IES Abroad is a nonprofit consortium of more than 200 colleges and universities that offers more than 100 study abroad programs in 36 cities around the world. More than 5,700 students enroll in IES Abroad programs each academic year.

Now IES Abroad is launching a new program in conjunction with 11 historically Black colleges and universities. The goal of the program is to increase the number of African American college students who study abroad. Today, Blacks make up about 12 percent of all undergraduate student enrollments in American higher education, but they are less than 5 percent of the students who participate in study abroad programs.

Beginning in the summer of 2014, IES Abroad, in conjunctions with the 11 HBCUs, will sponsor a program in sports management at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. Additional study abroad programs for students at the 11 HBCUs will be added in future years.

The 11 HBCUs participating in the program are: Barber-Scotia College, Bennett College. Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, Johnson C. Smith University, Livingstone College, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina Central University, St. Augustine’s College, Shaw University, and Winston-Salem State University.